The middle-aged Asian who left John speechless was a friend of Pearl and Ambique, and was also the author of the John Day Publishing Company, founded by the Pearl Sayrs. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoPearl Sai brought out this Chinese writer, who is known for his witty and humorous speech, as an example, and John could only obediently admit defeat. How else could he say that even the word humor in Chinese was translated by Lin Yutang.

Today, Lin Yutang is also a famous writer in the United States. In 1937, when John had just crossed over, he saw a copy of his "Art of Living" at his home in Cincinnati. Adele loved the book so much that she often kept it next to her pillow as a bedtime read.

In the United States and Europe, as far as John knew, the book "The Art of Living" (which was actually an expansion of Chapter 9 of "My Country, My People") was even more popular than "My Country, My People", and was at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for 52 weeks. Not to mention Lin Yutang's "Jinghua Smoke," which was published just last year, has historically sold 250,000 copies in the United States and earned Lin Yutang a nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

"It turned out to be Mr. Lin, look up for a long time! My wife and I are very fond of your book. It was the first time John had seen the so-called "Master of the Republic of China" and felt a little curious. Although he was not very interested in the "Republic of China Master Fever" that was once popular in China in his previous life, he also wanted to know what kind of people these masters were.

"Thanks to the praise, I dare not take it, I dare not take it." Lin Yutang was not surprised that John spoke Chinese, he was very familiar with Pearl Race and Weitmai, and there were many "foreigners" in their circle who had lived in China and could speak a few words of Chinese.

"Lin, this is Colonel Vanderbilt, also from New York. By the way, the apartment building you live in now is his property. Pearl Sai's words made both John and Lin Yutang stunned.

John doesn't remember renting a house to Lin Yutang. However, he quickly realized that his father, George's legacy, did include an old apartment building in Manhattan. But many years ago, he entrusted the old house to a real estate company run by the Astor family, and he never visited it in person for so many years.

"Does Mr. Lin now live on 86th Street in Manhattan?" John asked.

"That's right, Colonel. It turns out that the house is yours. What a coincidence, I didn't expect to meet the host here. Lin Yutang said with a smile.

"yes, what a coincidence. Is Mr. Lin satisfied with his stay there?" John also found the coincidence very interesting, and Adele certainly couldn't have imagined that her favorite author was actually her tenant.

"Satisfied, satisfied. It was easy to stay there, much better than where we had stayed in Paris before, and my wife and daughters loved it very much. Then, Lin Yutang smiled a little and said, "The only regret is that it is too close to Mr. Mariano's house. ”

His words caused the audience to burst into laughter. Everyone knows the allusion of Mr. Mariano and "Lin Yutang". Two years ago, Mr. Mariano, a wealthy Brazilian businessman, had just immigrated to New York with his family, just in time for Lin Yutang to be at his hottest time in New York. Perhaps in order to integrate into New York high society as soon as possible, Mr. Mariano advertised himself as a fan of Lin Yutang, and named one of his racing horses "Lin Yutang".

As soon as this horse participates in the race, major newspapers in New York will appear news such as "Lin Yutang participates in the Grand Prix of XX". However, the horse's results were not very good, and he often did not get a prize. As a result, when many newspapers can't find the highlights of the competition, they like to use headlines like "Lin Yutang's Name Falls on Sun Mountain" to attract readers.

Lin Yutang's method of finding fault with himself immediately eliminated the strangeness between John and him, and after a while, the two of them chatted quite speculatively. Interestingly, when the two of them were chatting, Lin Yutang kept using English, but John kept using Chinese.

After chatting for a while, Lin Yutang finally couldn't help but ask John: "Have you lived in Beiping before?" Listen to your accent a bit like. ”

"Really? I really don't know, my Chinese is self-taught, and I haven't been to China yet. John replied "humbly."

Lin Yutang was even more surprised: "I thought you had lived in China for many years, and few Westerners could master the Chinese pronunciation so well. ”

"Maybe it's because when I was learning Chinese, I was first exposed to Chinese poetry, so I was more sensitive to Pingxiao." John made an excuse for his Mandarin.

At this time, Wei Demai on the side interjected: "Although John has never been to China, his Chinese level is much stronger than mine." He recently translated the Chinese Art of War, which is about to be published. ”

The people present, whether it was Lin Yutang, Stilwell, or Pearl Sai, were all stunned. They all know the status of "The Art of War" in China, which is the ancestor of China's thousand-year-old war theory. John, a lover of Chinese culture who works "behind closed doors", can recognize a few Chinese characters and speak a few half-literary Chinese words is remarkable. How could he have translated The Art of War?

Even Pearl Sai, a talented woman who was born and raised in China and speaks Chinese as her mother tongue, struggled to translate a vernacular novel "Water Margin". He is also a double winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Hundreds of schools of thought such as the Analects and the Art of War may not be understood by ordinary Chinese, let alone foreigners, without systematic study. Anyway, Stilwell and Pearl Race had seen the book, and neither of them understood it.

In their view, the translation of "The Art of War" is something that only a few senior sinologists in the world can do. John, an amateur, would want to translate "The Art of War", it wouldn't be nonsense.

John also saw the confusion in their eyes, and quickly explained, "I'm just making some changes on the basis of Giles's translation. Mr. Giles was a great sinologist, and his translation of The Art of War is very beautiful. However, he did not understand military affairs, and only paid attention to the literal meaning of the original text, and did not notice the commonality between Sun Tzu's ideas and modern war theory. My book cannot be said to be a translation in the strict sense of the word, but an introduction to Sun Tzu's theory of war. ”

As soon as John said this, Pearl Race and Lin Yutang were fooled by him. After all, they specialize in art, and these two do not understand military affairs, and they see that China's military theories from 2,000 years ago can still be admired by American military officers, and they believe that they are still of guiding significance for modern warfare. As Chinese (Sai Zhuze has dual citizenship of the United States and China), the two of them are quite happy.

Stilwell wasn't so easy to fool. Although he can't read ancient Chinese, he understands military affairs. After more than 20 years in China, he has more or less heard some introductions to the content of "The Art of War".

"Colonel Vanderbilt, are you saying that what is in The Art of War is still applicable to modern warfare?" Stilwell really deserves to be "Vinegar Joe", and he didn't save face for John at all when he spoke. "Modern warfare is about strength, technology, equipment, and logistics, not the conspiracy of commanders. The Chinese art of war is full of deception and is outdated. A qualified army officer should focus on enhancing the combat effectiveness of his troops, rather than pondering those crooked ways. ”

Even if John didn't want to argue with Stilwell, he was by this guy. Feelings, "The Art of War" in his eyes are equivalent to conspiracy. Thanks to what he said here, if he left it in China, he would definitely offend all the Chinese military personnel.

To deny Sun Tzu in front of Chinese soldiers is to deny Clausewitz and Jomini in front of Western soldiers. It is no wonder that the commanders of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in history thought Stilwell was arrogant and rude. People don't even look down on "Master Zu", let alone them.

"Major General Stilwell. I don't think you have read The Art of War in its entirety, but I think many of Sun Tzu's strategic ideas are still relevant. Seeing that Stilwell was about to open his mouth to retort, John ignored him and continued: "I don't think our argument makes any sense until you have read the book in its entirety. ”

"If you're interested, I can mail you a copy of the manuscript, or you can buy the "Research on the Fundamental Problems of Strategy" series yourself. When you're done, you're always welcome to talk to me. After saying that, John made an excuse and went to the next room with Lin Yutang to have a good time smoking.